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Hamas police in Gaza broke into a warehouse full of United Nations humanitarian supplies and seized thousands of blankets and food parcels, UN spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday, raising the possibility of a rupture between the organization that cares for most of Gaza's residents and the territory's rulers and threatening the flow of badly needed aid.Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said Hamas policemen forced their way into an aid warehouse in Gaza City on Tuesday evening and confiscated 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels ready for distribution to 500 families."They were armed, they seized this, they took it by force," Gunness said, terming the incident "absolutely unacceptable."Police confiscated the aid after UNRWA officials refused to voluntarily hand it over to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs, he said. Similar aid packages had already been distributed to 70,000 residents over the past two weeks.Responding to the theft, Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog, who overlooks humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, said the incident was "further proof that Hamas is continuing to make life miserable for the population of Gaza and will use any means to intensify its suffering."During Operation Cast Lead, Herzog said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon, "Hamas leaders worried about their own welfare and security while totally neglecting the population."He said that Israel would continue to demand that any aid transferred to the Strip be "directed for the welfare of the civilian population only."In a statement released Wednesday, UNRWA condemned the theft "in the strongest terms," and demanded that it be "returned immediately." The statement added that the organization "has a strict system of monitoring aid delivery and ensuring that its assistance reaches only the intended beneficiaries," and that officials were present "taking all possible steps to avoid its diversion."Ahmad Kurd, the Hamas official in charge of the ministry, did not deny the seizure of the aid Wednesday, charging the UN was giving the aid to local groups with ties to Hamas opponents."UNRWA did not do what it said it would do, and began distributing its aid to groups that tie their activities to political activism," Kurd said.UN officials said they were distributing the aid directly to local residents according to a list compiled by community leaders. They said the aid was kept in a local storage facility, guarded by a local UN employee, because the organization's regular warehouses were full.Tensions between the Islamist group and UNRWA could make it difficult for the international agency to continue providing desperately needed services...By AP AND ELANA KIRSH
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